“We are in a pricing war and a beauty contest” said the keynote speaker, Howard Brinton, at a conference recently.  In other words, your home has to be in top condition and must be priced right inorder to sell in today’s real estate market.    Here is a guest author to give you some tips on staging your home and making it “shine”.

Guest Author:  Julie Schiefelbein

Successful Staging LLC

julieschiefelbein@gmail.com

Staging Tips for the Pacific Northwest!

Gone are the days when homes sold very quickly and for more than the asking price, where homes had multiple offers and homeowners had to do little. It’s a fact… selling a home in today’s slower market takes more work.  Did you know that Buyers take 15 seconds or less to form an impression about your home?  To sell in a timely manner and for a fair price, today’s home needs to be move-in ready and have that “special something about it.”

First impressions count!  Not making a good one can cost you the selling of your home.  Proactively investing a just few hundred dollars can mean thousands more on your sale price!

To make that great first impression and gain the competitive edge, take the following steps:

• The home must  be spotless and clean. Does your carpet need to be replaced or steamed cleaned?  Do walls need to be scrubbed or repainted?  Nothing shows or sells better than a “clean and shining” property!

• De-clutter your home so buyers can see its potential and envision how your spaces will look with their possessions.  Contact a resourceful Staging Consultant to divvy up which things should go and what can stay and make a good impact without investing too much money.

• Fix all major and minor repairs before you put your home on the market, otherwise buyers will be overwhelmed by all the work that needs to be done.

• If you have pets, consider having them stay somewhere else while buyers are viewing your home.  Do not forget to remove any lingering pet odors. This is quite important!

• Remember that curb appeal is also important. What do people notice when they look at your house?  Do they see an inviting brightly colored door with a potted plant or do they see overgrown weeds and a crumbling step?   Ask a Staging Consultant to provide a specific plan for clean up.

• Enhance your home’s special features and downplay problem areas with effective Successful Staging Solutions.  Do you have a over sized kitchen but a small dining room?

Make the most of the interior, exterior, and landscaped space you are selling.  Remember, potential buyers take 15 seconds or less to form an impression about your home.  Using the home staging tips above and utilizing an effective stager will go a long way in getting your home ready to sell in today’s slow moving market.  Make your home stand out from the crowd and be the home owner to get the offer.

Look for more detailed Successful Staging Solutions coming soon. 

(For more local and national real estate news, click on my monthly newsletter - JUNG’S JOURNAL - on my website www.bettyjung.com).

In the early 1980’s when the real estate market was “challenging” to say the least, I decided to sell my own home.  The move involved getting into a certain school district and putting the house up for sale right around Christmas - not an ideal time to be selling either.  My goal was to move before the school year ended. Unfortunately, I had to sell my dream house on four acres in the country with a view of all the mountains in order to accomplish that.

An offer came three days before Christmas (in snow) from an agent who still works for the same company I do.  He had a client living in the exact neighborhood I wanted to move to and whose owners wanted to move to the country.  The offer was a “trade” on my personal residence (not a 1031 tax-deferred exchange as that is for investment property only) and both properties were unencumbered.  Although I didn’t love their house, it accomplished what I started out to do.  The offer was accepted and the trade was made.   Luckily I found someone living exactly where I wanted to live.  The likelihood of finding this, although remote, is not an impossibility.  All the odds were against me (bad real estate market, Christmas, snow) and yet it happened!

If you’re having difficulty selling, you might have your agent inquire in the area you want to move to and see if there’s anyone that would like to trade properties with you. 

(For more local and national real estate news, click on my monthly newsletter - JUNG’S JOURNAL - on my website www.bettyjung.com).

In two neighborhoods in different parts of town, there are two houses I’ve been watching. Both are at different price points but the house in neighborhood #1 has been for sale 256 days and the house in neighborhood #2 has been on the market for 305 days! Today I saw two new listings come on the market in each of those two neighborhoods. The new listing in neighborhood #1 is $60,000 more than the first house and it is the same size, same floor plan and same year built. The second house in neighborhood #2 is only 20 sq. ft. less, same builder and same year built but is $136,000 more. What? The first two houses have been on the market for about a year and are over-priced. Neither of these houses has sold but these two new listings are now worth $60,000 and $136,000 more????

Per our latest stats, we have 9.1 months of inventory. It would take that long to sell all the houses for sale with no new listings coming on the market. We haven’t had this much inventory for sale in a long time! I’m also seeing houses that didn’t sell last year, taken off the market over the winter, come back for sale either at the same price they were when they didn’t sell the first time or for more $$$. What’s with that?

I’ve been advising my sellers that if they are really motivated and want to sell they need to reduce their asking price every 3-4 weeks. I recommend they sign price reductions at the time I list their property. On the date the price reduction becomes effective, I then proceed to reduce the price. I did this in both the 1980’s and 90’s recessions. One of our trade journals recently recommended that every 60 days an asking price should be reduced in order to sell the large inventory of homes that are for sale all across the nation!

In the 1990’s recession, I had a house listed that had 5 pre-signed price reductions. We got to the third and the house sold. The sellers were delighted not only to have their house sold in that tough market, but they didn’t have to get to the 5th price reduction. No one ever knew the sellers and I had that agreement.

Earlier in the 1980’s when interest rates were 21%, I did the same thing. During that recession, I had a house listed for 3 years!! The sellers started listening to me about price reductions too late and lost the house in foreclosure. Finally, when the bank took my suggestion of pre-signed price reductions, I got my listing sold during 21% interest rates. That was one of my best selling years even with rates so high.

What are sellers thinking? This is not the time to list your house higher than the houses that haven’t even sold yet. Price is absolutely everything. Sellers need to stay ahead of the market and be very aggressive in pricing. If you over-price a house, you’re always going to play “catch up” with the market. Pricing a house 5-10% below the market is the only way to assure you will get your house sold today. If you aren’t getting any showings, your price is too high. If you’re getting showings but no offers, the price is still too high. Those buyers who looked at your house are comparing yours with the other houses they saw and are buying those instead. What are these sellers thinking???

I forgot to tell you, the two new listings mentioned that came on the market today, they do have granite counters. Read my blog next week entitled The Granite “Rut”, and you’ll see how I feel about granite countertops!!

(For more local and national real estate information, check out my monthly newsletter - “Jung’s Journal” at www.bettyjung.com).